I just finished my big race for the spring. What now?

As I’m writing this on the weekend before Memorial Day, spring road racing season is wrapping up. If you did a half marathon or marathon this spring, you’ve already ran the race and have taken a break from any strenuous training for a couple of weeks

But what should you do now? It’s a little early for you to start training for a long road race in the fall, but you want to keep running through the summer so that you don’t get out of shape. If you’d like to keep your running mileage up during the summer, you have 2 main options:

1) do lots of easy running at slow paces to build your aerobic base

2) train for shorter road or track races to improve your max speed and lactate threshold, among other qualities.

Here’s the great thing about these 2 options: you can do both of them at the same time! You can still make most of your running at easy paces/intensities, while doing some faster workouts a couple of days a week to prepare you for a faster mile or 5K. The running workouts for the mile or 5K are generally faster and shorter than the ones that you did for the longer races, so they still leave you plenty of time to get your distance runs.

You want to get faster. Where should you start?

So, what exactly are these faster workouts? What do they look like? I’ll explain them in the order that you should introduce them:

• 1. Strides – this is short periods (usually 30 seconds or less) of fast running, or about 80-90% of your max sprint speed. If possible, you want to find a long and flat stretch of road to run strides. You can do them after an easy distance run a couple days out of the week. If you’re pressed for time, you can even “embed” strides into the end of the run. See this video for more details.
  • Example A: in the last 15 minutes of your run, do a 30 second stride, then recovery jog for 2 minutes 30 seconds. Repeat 5 times. 
  •  Example B: do 4-6 strides of 20-30 seconds duration. Walk back to the start after each stride.
• 2. Uphill running – this could look like short sprints (10 seconds or less) up a fairly steep incline OR this could look like running at a “hard” intensity for 30-90 seconds up a longer hill. Both are great for building leg strength and running speed as you have to recruit more muscle fibers to run uphill as compared to running at the same speed/effort level on flat ground.
  • Example: Do 6-8 hard runs uphill for 30 seconds duration. Walk or slowly jog back to the start after each rep. 
• 3. Tempo/threshold workouts – depending on your definition of tempo or threshold running, it could mean running at efforts anywhere from your estimated 10K race pace to half marathon race pace (see this video for more info on estimating your current race paces based on a recent race effort). The goal of this type of workout is to build your higher-end aerobic fitness by running at a pace that would feel hard but you could sustain for at least an hour. Less experienced runners would probably want to start with tempo intervals while more advanced runners can do tempo efforts of 20-30 minutes or longer.
  • Example of tempo intervals: 3-5 intervals of 5 minutes at tempo effort, 2 minutes jog or walk recovery. 
  • Example of a tempo run: do a 10-15 minute walking/jogging/running warm-up, then run for 20 minutes at tempo effort. Do a 10 minute jogging/walking cool-down.
• 4. VO2max intervals – these are called VO2max intervals because you’ll be running at an intensity where your body is utilizing the maximum amount of oxygen possible during exercise (a.k.a. Your VO2max). These intervals are usually 3-6 minutes in length and are run at or near your estimated 5K race pace. Doing these intervals helps you to practice the rhythm of running at 5K pace, and running at this intensity may feel like you are keeping your “foot on the gas” the whole time – they are important for physically and mentally preparing you for a race!
  • Example workout: Run at your estimated 5K race pace for 3 minutes, then jog slowly or walk for 3 minutes to recover. Repeat 3-5 times. 
• 5. Fast track workouts – typically, these track workouts are short intervals (600 meters or less), run at anywhere between mile and 5K pace. These are the workouts that are most specific to improving your fastest mile time. Why is that important? No matter the event, there will be a gap between your fastest mile time and what you can sustain as an average pace per mile over a longer distance. If you can improve your top-end speed (fastest mile time), then that raises your “ceiling” on how fast you can run in a longer race.
  • Example workout: Go to your local track. Run 200 meters (half a lap) at your estimated 2 mile or 3K race pace, then jog the other half lap. Repeat this run/jog interval 5-6 times. If you’re in good enough shape, take a 4-5 minute break and do a second set of 5-6 run/jog intervals.

A few quick suggestions on summer racing and training

1. Do a MAXIMUM of 1-2 of these workouts per week. The rest of your remaining runs should be done at an easy or very easy effort (which might mean walking or doing a mix of walking and jogging.

2. Having a somewhat accurate estimate of your race paces based on your current fitness will help put some “guardrails” around your training, so that you’re doing the workouts at the appropriate intensity. Watch this video to learn how to estimate your current running fitness. 

3. Slowly build into these workouts, especially strides and track workouts, particularly if you’re over the age of 30 and have not been doing activities requiring sprinting or jumping on a regular basis. Some of the qualities of tendons in the human body begin to change around ~35 years old, which make them more susceptible to injury IF they are underprepared for the task at hand (the task in this case = fast running). Just because you were a great athlete in high school or college doesn’t mean that your body is prepared to run near its fastest speeds if you have not done that in years.

4. Do an adequate warm-up for these faster workouts. For the faster workouts (VO2max intervals or a track workout), your warm-up should include: brisk walking or easy jogging for 10+ minutes, dynamic stretching and leg swings, some running drills, and strides. A good warm-up is VITAL when you are planning on running fast!

5. Doing running workouts at faster intensities means that your easy runs need to actually feel easy! In the video link in suggestion #1, the running calculator will give you a suggested pace range for easy runs and recovery runs. You can use this as a starting point. If you’re running the day after a hard workout, you’ll want to make it a very easy run at recovery pace. 

6. Give yourself adequate rest between races. Races should be considered “very hard” workouts. A 5K race is the most specific 5K workout that you can do. That means it’s OK to skip a hard workout the next week if you ran a race that weekend. Let your body tell you when it’s ready to start running hard again.

7. Hydrating properly is important for being able to perform optimally. Check out this Instagram post that I made for more information on hydration. Also, consider doing early morning or late evening workouts if you live in a particularly hot or humid climate, or adjust the expectations for your times if you have to run in the hot sun. 

I hope that this gives you a basic idea of how to get faster in the summer, which will make you a more well-rounded runner. If you feel that you need more specific advice or are looking for a coach, I’d love to help you! You can click here for my contact information.

– Brian Barney PT, DPT, CSCS